The Scarlet Letter

Section: Book Reports

In the 17th century, Puritans believed that there was a stern God who had decreed in advance the fate of each person for all time. Therefore, there was not much people felt they could do to become a better person in God's eyes but do his biding with their jobs. To increase their chances of getting to go to heaven the townspeople would often get one step closer to God by getting close to a religious leader, which was bad for Arthur Dimmesdale who was probably farther away from God than everyone else because of his sin. Relationships were looked upon as something sacred and a woman should be loyal to her husband. Once married it was considered a horrible offense if you were un-loyal to your spouse. They have not been bold to put force the extremity of our righteous law against her. The penalty therefor is death.(58) A townsman explains that the penalty is death for her crime (showing the harshness of the 17th century), yet that the other party in the affair must have played a strong role in tempting her, so they just sentenced her to the letter on her chest and three hours on the scaffold.

The stranger shows how most people reacted when only seeing one of the guilty two parties up on the scaffold, it irks me, nevertheless, that the partner of her iniquity should not, at least, stand on the scaffold by her side. Women still did not have that many rights, so anything Hester said in her defense would have just have been ignored. Relationships were not supposed to be broken unless by divorce, even if the husband was at the bottom of the sea-where Hester's husband was believed to be. Through relationships, religion, community, discipline and punishment the reader can get a better understanding of what was expected of towns people in the 17th century. The Scarlet Letter shows the pain and suffering a woman went through when she broke her marriage, and disobeyed her religion. She then was sentenced to a public punishment to be humiliated, tormented, and alienated by the community around her. The fate driven religious society in 17th century Boston would not accept sin of any kind and the punishment for adultery was death. Instead, the community branded Hester Prynne with the letter A for the rest of her life and made her stand in front of the whole community as an example for everyone that sin and corruption was not accepted in their society.

Bibliography:

The Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne, Nathaniel. Penguin Putnam Inc. NY, NY, 1999. The Americans, Danzer, Gerald A. McDougal Littell Company. Dallas, Texas, 1999. Words: 951

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